Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country

 

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.   And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  

 

So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

 

- Luke 4:14-30 

 

Yesterday we read that, Jesus, after His baptism by John in the Jordan, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.' Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'" Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,'and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. 

 

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.   And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  Jesus' first acts in this beginning of His public ministry (after His baptism by John, and His forty day fasting and temptation period -- see above) is to go to Galilee to preach and teach in their synagogues.  Let's note that just as He was led into the wilderness for fasting and temptation by the Holy Spirit, here He returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, in this beginning of His ministry.    

 

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:  "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."  My study Bible comments that, as Christ is the eternal Son of God, He did not "become" the world's anointed Savior, but has always been our Savior from before the foundation of the world.  It was Christ who spoke through Isaiah, saying, "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me" (Isaiah 6:11).  My study Bible asks us to note that He does not say, "The Spirit 'has come' upon Me."  When the Spirit of the LORD descended upon Jesus at His baptism (Luke 3:22), this was a sign which revealed an eternal, not temporal, truth to the people.  The acceptable year is the time of the Incarnation, when the Kingdom of heaven has come to earth (see 2 Corinthians 6:2).

So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.  My study Bible cites this double response of marveling and rejection, which it says occurs frequently in people who encounter Christ (see Luke 11:14-16; John 9:16).  Christ's being rejected in His own country fulfills the rejection of the Old Testament prophets such as Elijah and Elisha; it's also a foreshadowing of Christ's rejection by the whole of the nation at His trial before Pilate (John 19:14-15).  Jesus accepts death according to God the Father's will, not at the will of the people.  Here, Christ's hour of His Passion has not yet come (see John 8:20).  Jesus' statement, that no prophet is accepted in his own country, is found in all four Gospels (Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, John 4:44).

How can we help but be struck by the people's response to Jesus, where one moment they marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth, and seemingly in the next they are filled with wrath to the point where they take Him to the edge of the cliff on which His hometown is built, with the aim of throwing Him off?  These are zealous, fiery responses; we might call them highly passionate.  But let's examine where they come from.  In the first place, the "gracious words" which proceed from Him are something they can't quite reconcile with the status of Jesus and His family as He's known to them.  "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they say.  Those of us from closed communities, small towns, or familiar neighborhoods might not be so surprised by this response.  But perhaps what we're meant to understand is once again the power of the Holy Spirit working through the divinity of Jesus and His ministry.  We can take it for granted that until this time of public ministry, initiated by Christ's baptism, there hadn't been a time where Jesus was meant to be publicly preaching or declaring Himself.  But here in His hometown, there is a clear declaration made by Jesus, when He says, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  He is the "anointed one" to "preach the gospel to the poor."  He's the deliverer, and the one who has been sent in this "acceptable year of the Lord."  All of these things mean that He is declaring, in His hometown of Nazareth, that He is the Messiah; He is the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy.  But the people are waiting to be stunned and started and offered dazzling proofs and miraculous signs.  After all, He's the son of Joseph, isn't He?  Where did He get these gracious words?  So Jesus rebukes them, in a sense, with His recounting of the Scriptures:  that God does not visit everyone simply by virtue of their ancestry or associations with the history of Israel -- and the implication is, not even if they're the people of Christ's hometown.  Elijah was sent to Sidon, Gentile territory, to Zarephath the widow rather than a widow of Israel.  (As an aside, Jesus will refer to Zarephath also when responding to His mother at the wedding in Cana, by quoting Zarephath's words directly from the Greek Septuagint Scripture in which she questioned Elijah after the death of her son; see 1 Kings 17:18; John 2:4.)  With all the lepers who needed healing in Israel, only Naaman the Syrian was cleansed by Elisha.  Jesus is telling them, in effect, that it's not their proximity to Him that would render them witnesses to His divine power and the miraculous signs they may have heard about, done by Him in Capernaum, but rather their faith.  But they don't respond with faith or trust; they can hardly believe that this is the same Jesus they knew once upon a time, the Jesus they know as Joseph's son.  So, Jesus tells them, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country."  But there will be others, foreigners, who accept Him.  Of that He has confidence.  For this truth, they seek to kill Him in His hometown, and they are enraged, filled with wrath.  But Jesus goes on His way, out to preach, and toward His hour, which has not yet come.  How can Jesus' response to the people in His hometown help us when we are in difficult circumstances?  When we tell the truth to those whom we know, and they disrespect or become enraged at us?  Jesus gives us the clue, for His Father teaches Him where to go and what He must do, and has plans for Him.  For all of us, let it be a model when we, too, are rejected.   In our faith, God has a plan for us to pursue, an identity that is bigger than anything else we know, and others who will accept that identity.  Let us take guidance from His example.

 

 

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD

 

 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.  And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 

 

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me 

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."

 

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in our hearing."  So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.

 

- Luke 4:14–30 

 

On Saturday, we read about Christ's forty day period after His Baptism by John in the Jordan:  Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"  Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written,  'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve."  Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,'and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, "You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. 

 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.  And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  Jesus returns from the time of testing in the wilderness to His home region of Galilee, and His public ministry begins.  Note how His reputation grew as He taught in the synagogues, and was glorified by all.

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.   Jesus' "hometown," where He had been brought up, was Nazareth in Galilee.  A source of confusion arises later on in His ministry, among those who do not know that He was born in Bethlehem of Judea, although brought up in Nazareth.

 

  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:  "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."  As Christ is the eternal Son of God, He did not become the world's anointed Savior, but rather has always been our Savior from before the foundation of the world.  My study Bible explains that it was Christ who spoke through Isaiah, as Isaiah said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me" (see Isaiah 61:1-2 from which Jesus reads).  My study Bible asks us to note that He does not say, "The Spirit has come upon Me."  It explains that when the Spirit of the LORD descended on Jesus at His baptism (Luke 3:22), this was a sign revealing an eternal, not temporal, truth to the people.  The acceptable year is the time of the Incarnation, when the Kingdom of heaven has come to earth (see 2 Corinthians 6:2).  

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in our hearing."  So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.  My study Bible comments that this double response of marveling (verse 22) and rejection (verse 29) occurs frequently in those who encounter Christ (see Luke 11:14-16; John 9:16).  Christ's saying, that no prophet is accepted in his own country, appears in all four Gospels (see also Matthew 13:57; Mark 6:4; John 4:44).

My study Bible says that this rejection fulfills the rejection of the Old Testament prophets such as Elijah and Elisha (verses 26-27), and is a foreshadowing of Christ's rejection by the whole Jewish nation at His trial before Pilate (John 19:14-15).  Here, the hour of Christ's Passion has not yet come (see John 8:20).

It's very interesting to note how outspoken Jesus is.  It's as if He has come out publicly into the world with His ministry with a commitment never to mince words, to hold nothing back.  There are times we know when He seeks to withdraw, to avoid clashing with the authorities before the time of His Passion.  There are times just after He has had a particular conflict with the religious authorities when He will seek to be out of the way for awhile.  For example, in Mark's Gospel, we're told that when He went through the Gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon, "He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret," and so has an encounter with the Syrophoenician woman who wants His help casting a demon from her daughter (Mark 7:24-30).  Similarly, in Mark's 9th chapter, just before Christ warns the disciples for the second time that He will be killed and rise the third day, we read, "Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know  it" (Mark 9:30-32).  But in this case in today's reading, when Jesus goes to His hometown of Nazareth, it's almost as it if it is time for this particular meeting, this particular objection, this response upon which my study Bible remarks of both marveling and rejection.  He boldly announces to this congregation in the place where He grew up, that the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled in their hearing on this day.  Note that He has already established Himself in Galilee with a prominent public ministry, and clearly has done great works elsewhere.  Jesus says to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  In this place where they know Him and His family is where the demand for proofs begin, and it is seemingly as if Jesus has anticipated this type of objection, this obstacle to belief, and the rejection that comes among "His own."  In His own hometown of Nazareth, the people are so outraged at Him when He responds that it was only foreigners who received the word of Elijah and of Elisha, that they attempt to rush Him off a cliff to His death.  His time has not yet come for His Passion and death, but many rejections will come before that also.  Jesus wastes no time mincing words, or seeking to appease, or to find something acceptable to say.  He tells the truth -- the very blunt truth that one supposes He must know they will react to in this hostile way.  After all, we can imagine they say to themselves, who does He think He is?  "Is this not Joseph's son?"  Where did He get those gracious words?  At any rate, Jesus knows the fate of prophets, saying that "no prophet is accepted in his own country."  Therefore what is bound to happen must happen, and Jesus will not change His mission and ministry, His gospel message, nor His obedience to the Father.  Whatever is going to conflict with that is simply what He will accept as He must.  What comes first is following the Father's will and acting in the Father's name -- even if that means rejection in His hometown.  So what can we ourselves learn from Christ's ministry here in His hometown of Nazareth?  There are times when we might face rejection among "our own" because of our faith, because we follow where we think God is leading us.  We might express the "wrong opinion," or perhaps we ourselves are led to develop skills and talents such as "gracious words" that spark both marveling and rejection at the same time.  After all, envy is not something confined to Christ's time, and a truthful prophet no doubt may still find the same response "in his own country."  But for the meantime, let us ponder Jesus' role.  It is not to shrink back, or fail to do His mission.  If rejection of His message will come, that does not mean He will avoid that message.  The last thing Jesus seeks is popularity; He has a job to do, a mission to fulfill, a ministry to make known, a message He must proclaim, and a certain end to fulfill.  It is "the acceptable year of the Lord," and He is the fulfillment of prophecy.  He knows what He is doing, where He is headed and what He is about, and to whom He is loyal above all.  Let us follow His example and accept what we must with His faith and His courage.  

Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country

T'oros Roslin Gospels, Canon Table with Isaiah, 1262.   Hromkla scriptorium, Cilicia/Walters Ms. W.539, fol.5v, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.  And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives 

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."  

 

So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His own way.

 

 - Luke 4:14–30 

 

On Saturday, we read that Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan after His Baptism and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"  Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.' "  And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"   Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.  

 

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.  And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.  Luke tells us once more of the direct role the Holy Spirit has in this beginning of Christ's ministry (see also Luke 3:16, 22; 4:1).

 

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah.  And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:  "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."  My study bible comments here that Christ, being the eternal Son of God, did not "become" the world's anointed Savior, but has always been our Savior from before the foundation of the world.  It notes that it was Christ who spoke through Isaiah who said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me" (Isaiah 61:1).  Christ does note say that "the Spirit has come upon Me."  When the Spirit of the LORD descended upon Jesus at His Baptism (see Luke 3:22), this was a sign which revealed an eternal, not temporal, truth to the people. 

 

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."   Christ explains that Isaiah's proclaimed acceptable year of the LORD is the time of the Incarnation, when the Kingdom of heaven has come to earth (see 2 Corinthians 6:2).  

 

 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.  And they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"  He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!  Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.'"  Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.  But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.  And many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."  So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  Then passing through the midst of them, He went His own way.  My study bible comments that this double response in which the people both marveled and also rejected Him occurs frequently in those who encounter Christ (see also Luke 11:14-16, John 9:16).  Christ's being rejected in His own country is a fulfillment of the rejection of Old Testament prophets such as Elijah, and also Elisha (both of whom Jesus mentions here), and it foreshadows Christ's rejection by the whole of the Jewish nation at His trial before Pilate (John 9:14-15).  Christ accepts death according to the will of the Father, and not at the will of the people or the religious leaders.  Here, the hour of His Passion has not yet come (see John 8:20).  

Jesus says, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country."  This is such an important statement that all four of the Gospels include it (see also Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, John 4:44).  Jesus brings to mind, by way of explanation to His townspeople, the stories of Elijah and Elisha, in which they were not sent by God to perform miraculous signs and healings except to foreigners, and not to their own people.  Indeed, Matthew and Mark explain that Jesus could not perform any great signs in Nazareth because of His fellow townspeople's lack of faith (Matthew 13:58, Mark 6:5-6).  They just can't believe that Christ could be anything except the person they remember as Joseph's son.  They marvel at the gracious words He speaks which apparently are a kind of surprising revelation to them.  But they have also heard of the works He's done elsewhere by this time, and Jesus anticipates that they will demand such among themselves as a kind of proof of this new status He's gained:  "Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country."   But consistently throughout the Gospels Jesus refuses to produce signs and "proofs" on demand.   The manifestations of His divine power happen in response to faith.  In giving the examples of Elijah and Elisha, this is what Christ has attempted to explain to the townspeople.  Rather than comprehending and considering what He's telling them, they respond with an outrage predictable to those familiar with the Gospels and Jesus' ministry.  How dare He tell them that the lack of proofs, or manifestation of signs, has something to do with them, something lacking in them?  Their outrage is indicative both of their lack of faith and their lack of recognition of any kind of authority in Jesus, and reflects the greater rejection that is to come in Jerusalem for similar reasons.   Psychologically, this outrage is a reflection of what is commonly called "projection," in which our own internal darkness or ignorance -- a lack of knowledge about what is within ourselves -- results in the projection of our own flaws onto others.  The darkness within us acts as a kind of mirror, where what we accuse others of being is a reflection of something within ourselves.  In this case, Jesus tells them the truth about themselves.  Rather than possessing the ability to look within in an honest way, and trusting in the words and motives of Christ, they respond with a predictable outrage at the Person they perceive as accuser.  Repeatedly, Jesus says in the Gospels that those who love the Father will also be able to "hear" Him.  In John chapter 8, Jesus says to those among the Pharisees who wish to kill Him:  "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.  You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God" (John 8:42-47).  He also speaks of this phenomenon of projection when He teaches that we don't dare correct or condemn someone when we haven't dealt with our own bigger flaws:  "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:1-4).   In today's reading, the townspeople of Nazareth come off as quite judgmental and set in their ways.  The way their society has viewed and understood Jesus and His family has to be the correct one, and nothing can happen that upsets this perception, unless it is flattering to the townspeople.  One cannot help but wonder at the ways in which the lives of Mary and Jesus might have been difficult, except for the fact that the humility with which we understand them to have lived their lives serves as a kind of protection against conflict with the arrogant.  But now, in the setting of our reading, is the time for truth to be revealed, for Jesus to reveal Himself, and for the manifestation of the Kingdom.  As Jesus says, reading the prophecy of Isaiah, to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.   The outrage and rejection of God's truth only serves as judgment against those who refuse it.